Almond huller



Patented Dec. 18, 1923..

ir En rar' TENT ALMOND HULLER.

Application led November 11, 1922. Serial No. 600,415.

To all whom t may concer/n.' Y

Be it known 'that I, LAURENCE L. MILLER,

. a citizen I'of the United Stat-cs. residing at Ripon, county Y'of San Joaquin, State of California,` have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Almond Huller; and I do declare the following'to be a full, clear, and exact 'description 'of the same, reference Vbeing had t the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked'thereon, which form a part of this application? l This invention relates to improvements in almod-hulling`machines, the principal objects in View being to provide a huller in which the'nuts will' 'be efficiently hulled and the danger'of cracking the vshells while so doing 'reduced 'to a"minimum; one from which the "hulled nuts' and the hulls 'will dop'easi'ly and without any danger of their sticking between the 'grate'-bars;and one so constructed "that adjustments to suitA different conditions as tothe kind and size of the nuts to be fhulled may be veryquickly and easily made; l' Y A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one 'which' will be exceedingly edective for the purposes Vfor'which it is designed.

These V'o'bjec-tsI "accomplish by means fof such structure and relative'arrangenent of parts as willfully appear by V.a perusal of the following spciiication and claims.'

In the drawings similar' characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views." v

'Fig' 1 isa longitudinal section of the hullfer.' i

" Fig; 2 is a cross section thereof.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective of a grate-bar'unit,detached *Referring now more particularly to the the characters of reference on'the drawings, the numeral '1 ldenotes a pair ofsubstan'tially horizontal' parallel "beams, suitably spaced apart and c'onnectedbycross beams 2, mak ing a rigid rectangularframe'. 'Thisframe isvpivota'lly "supporte-d from'the floor at one end on a "transverse 'shaft 'which'is journaled in uprights 4 mounted on the floor and extendingwupwardly xalongside the frame; `The opposite'end of 'th'fraine is supported Iby 'a chain orcable 5', the upper end'- of which `isviround about a drum Gon af' shaft 17" suitablyl"'suppo'rted l'above the frame; orftlie chain may' 'be' wound directly about the shaft itself. It will thus be seen that by turning sai-d shaft 7, the chain will be raised or lowered, thereby altering the angle of setting of' the frame relative to the floor.

Journaled in the cross beams 2 and eX- t'ending lengthwise of the beams 1 and centrally therebetween is a shaft structure 8 in axial alinement with the shaft 3 and driven' therefrom by means of bevel gearing 9. The shaft 3 itself is driven by any suitable power through a belt 10 running over a pulley 11 on said shaft, or by any other suitable means, as may be desired.

Situated between the beams 1 and substantially concentric with the shaft 8 is a circular drumT 12', preferably made of sheet metal, a portion of said drum to the extent of about of its periphery being cutaway lengthwise 'from a point substantially atthe bottom of the drum upwardly around that side in the direction of rotation of the shaft 8. Reinforcing bars 13, projecting outwardly, extend along the edges of the open area.-

' Adapted to removably iit into the cutaway o'r open area are grate bar units 111 and'15 of equal' length, so as to 'be interchanged with each other if desirable'. Each unit comprises a'plurality of peripherally disposed and circular rods or bars 16 suitablyy spaced apartlengthwise of the drum; those of the unit 111 being spaced closer together than those of the unit 15.

" lConnecting each set of rods together outwardly of or under the same, are bars 17 and 1 The bars 17 are at the lower ends of the rods and are flush with said ends, being adapted to lie against that side of the adjacent angle bar 13 which faces the cutaway portion of'the drum, theV inner or upper edges ofr the rods '14% and 15 at that end beingiin alineinent with the inner surfaceof the drum, and forming a continua tion 'of the curvature thereof.

The opposite ends of said rods extend somewhat beyond the bars 18, so as to overlap and rest on the adjacent drum surface, said'bars 18 lying against that side of the adjacent angle bar 13 which faces inwardly of theopen area of the drum.

Removable bolts 19 holdthe members 17 to'thela'djacentbar 13, but no` holding means for the bars18 isnecessary otherthan that provided'by the overlap'ofthe' grate bars on the drum surface. This last named feature 1s also an aid in preventing possible .cracking of the nut-shells, since there is a drop between the inner edge of the grate' rods and the drum surface' rather than an obstructing wall Vor edge, the nuts tending to be forced from the former onto the latter. rit the lower ends of the grates, however, the reverse conditions obtain, the nuts moving from the drum on to the grate. i Separate discharge'rhutes 2O lead from under the grates, so that the discharge from each grate maybe segregated and given v` different treatment should it be necessary.

The reason for making the grate units Vwith different spacing between the bars but of the same overall length is because l have found from experience that when handling different kinds of nuts, better results may be obtained by altering the spacing of Y the grates, the grate unit used with one kind of nut at the intakeend being sometimes removed fronrsaid end and Vplaced atthe lower end of the drum for a different kind Yof nut, another grate unit, with still closer bars being then mounted at the intake end. Or the lower-end grating may be placed Vat the intalre end, and another grate with still wider spaced bars mounted in the lowei` end.

A chute or hopper 21'leads to the intake or high end of the drum.

Mounted on the shaft 8 over that portion thereof within the drum are suitably spaced and radially disposed rods 22, disposed in staggered order, and serving as beaters to strike the nuts as they Yenter and travel through the drum. Y The drum is adjustably supported from` into said beams, which allows of lateral adv justmentof the drum relative'to the shaft.

In this manner, the spacing of the beater rods from the grates may be adjusted both vertically and laterally to suit different conditions of operation, since thespacing of said rods from the top portion of the drum is a matter of no: importance.

Also, the spacing ofthe beaters from the grates may be made different at opposite ends of the drum, depending on conditions and the judgment of the operator.

As previously described, the angle of the structureV as awhole, without disturbing said drum adjustment, may be altered by manipulation of the chain 5. Y Y

By the use of the peripherally rather than longitudinally disposed grate bars asrusual, l am enabled, without weakening the structure, touse shallower barsthan is possible withl'he last namedarrangement, as they are more selfsupporting, and there is thus Y but a Vver-y small distance for the nuts to fall before they are entirely clear of the grates, thus avoiding thechance of the hulls or nuts wedging between thetbars, as frequently happens with the ordinary form of construction. 1

Also I'have found that round ratherthan square bars aid materially in this quick-discharge action, since the tendency of the'nuts and hulls is to roll Vthrough. easily, thereV being no sharp edges to hinder their passage.

F rom the foregoing description` it will be readily seen Vthat l have produced such a Y device as substantially fulills'the objects Y of the invent-ion as set forth herein. Y WhileV this specification Vsets forth in 4detail theV present and preferred construction ofthe device, still'in practice such deviations fromsuch detail maybe resorted to as do notform a departure `frornthe spirit of the invention,as defined by the appended claims;

Having thus Ydescribed my, invention, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure byLetters Patentis:l

l. An almond huller comprisingfa drum, a shaft projecting therethroughV andV having beater members thereon, .meansV for adjust-V ing the angle of setting'iof theydrum and shaft Yas, a unit, and independentmeans for Vadjusting the concentric setting of the drum 'Y relative to theshaft 2. An almond huller comprising a drum, a shaft projecting therethrough and having beater members thereon, means for fadjusting the angle of setting of the drum ,Y and shaft as a unit and independent means at both ends of the. drum for enabling the concentricity of the latter relative to the shaft to be adjustedindependentlyat eitherendY of said drumn 1 Y Y 3. An almond .huller including aV drum cut away Vlengthwise for aportion ofi-itsV extent, and gratebars extending over the cut-away area VperipherallyV of the drum; the inner edges of the bars at oneend Vlying flush withthe inner edge Vof the drum and the opposite' ends of said barshaving loperi spaces therebetween `and overlapping the inner face of the drum adjacent the cut-away area thereof. E

4. An almond huller including a drum out away lengthwise for a `portion of its extent, re-inforcing bars extending alongV the longitudinal edges of the 'drum surrounding the cut away area,l and'outwardly thereof,

grate bars extendingfperipherally of the drinn over said area and bars extending outwardly of the grate bars and lengthwise of the drum and to which said grate bars are connected, said other bars being adapted to fit between said re-inforcing bars.

5. .iin almond huller including a druin cut away lengthwise for a portion of its extent, reinforcing bars extending along the longitudinal edges of the dr in surrounding the cut away area, and outwardly thereof grate bars extending peripherally of the drum over said area and bars extending outwardly of the grate bars and lengthwise of the druni and to which said grate bars are Connected7 said other bars being adapted to lit between said re-inforcing bars, and means removably holding said lastnained sets of bars te each other.

6. An almond huller including a drinn: cut away lengthwise for a portion of its eX- tent, reinforcing bars extending along the longitudinal edges of the drinn surrounding the cut away area, and outwardly thereof grate bars extending peripherally of the drum over said area and bars extending outwardly of the grate bars and lengthwise of the drum and to which said grate bars are connected, the grate bars at one end extending beyond the adjacent longitudinal bar whereby to rest on the adjacent inner face of the druni while said longitudinal bar lies against the adjacent reinforeing bar; the opposite ends of the grate bars lying` flush with their adjacent longitudinal bar while the latter lies against the corresponding reinforcing bar, and removable bolts holding said last nained bars in place.

7. An almond huller including an inclined frame piyoted at one end, vertically ad-` justable means supporting the other end, a shaft journaled lengthwise in the frame, a drinn surrounding the s'haft` brackets on the eruin at the ends thereof overhanging the fraine, and vertically adjustable bolts in the frane, the brackets resting on said bolts.

In testimony whereof I affix iny signature.

LAURENCE L. MILLER. 

